Cited on HN 3 times, 2016–2021, never outright recommendedscore 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
Used as a cultural reference in discussions of children running errands alone and of Sesame Street.
A short classic Sesame Street clip in which a mother sends her young daughter to the store to buy a loaf of bread, a container of milk and a stick of butter.
So, you're one of those anti-free range children/helicopter parents I read so much about? "A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter." - [this video] . That's what the US was like when I was a kid. Were they all bad parents then? As [link] points out, "By Western standards, Japanese culture emphasises independence and self-reliance from an extraordinarily young age." Do you think all of Japan practices child neglect?
What...?! This has nothing to do with monoculturalism or xenophobia. Probably not high work ethics either. Here's a bit of US history to show how things have changed. The TV show "Sesame Street" started in the late 1960s as a way to provide pre-school education to low-income and disadvantaged families. See [link] . One of the early clips is "Loaf of Bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter" - [this video] . In it, the mother sends her young daughter out, alone, to buy those three items from the local store. That account takes place in New York in the 1970s, a diverse city with many immigrants. While fiction, it's meant to educate children about what they might be expected to do. If you read books about children in NYC in the mid-1900s, you'll see that this was not uncommon. Kids, including young ones, would go on their own to Central Park, or the library, etc. Or on hot days just hop on an elevated line to enjoy the breeze.
Sesame Street clip showing a young child sent on an errand alone
Sometimes, when I have a few things to remember, I start repeating the list. It always turns into "A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter." [this video]
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